Star Trek Voy - Season 3 - Episode 11
Star Trek Voy - 3x11 - The Q and the Grey
Originally Aired: 1996-11-27
Synopsis:
Q asks Janeway to be the mother of his child. [DVD]
Problems
- Q implies that no two Q have ever had children prior to this episode, which contradicts TNG: True-Q.
Factoids
- The line where Q says "gallivanting around the galaxy, using my omnipotence to impress females of every species," was bloopered several times, making for some rather entertaining filming sessions.
Remarkable Scenes
- Q's appearance and declaration that he wants Janeway to be the mother of his child.
- Chakotay regarding Q: "What did he want?" Janeway: "Let's just say he had a personal request."
- The female Q calling Janeway a dog.
- The visit to the American Civil War version of the Q Continuum.
- The female Q's confrontation with Torres.
- Voyager entering the Q Continuum.
My Review
A good sequel to Voy: Death Wish. While the episode is thoroughly enjoyable, it does suffer from a distinct lack of realism. This isn't a major problem; the Q are omnipotent and can therefore do anything. But Star Trek viewers like plausibility and the Q civil war just didn't make too much sense on certain levels. In this respect the episode seems more of the fantasy genre than science fiction. That said, virtually every Q episode is a good episode and this is no exception. I'd say the biggest highlight of the show as the female Q and her interactions with the Voyager crew. I rather liked her conversation with Torres. When Torres mentioned something about her having a superiority complex, the female Q responded with something like, "It's not a complex, dear, it's a fact." Good stuff.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
Factoid: The actress that plays the female Q also played worf's baby momma in tng. Interesting because of her conversation with the other half klingon in this episode.
This episode was painful to watch. And not just because I hate most of the Q episodes. The biggest problems were:
1) Omnipotent beings with Earth-like gender and relationship stereotypes? Seriously? The interactions between the two Qs seemed like they've been taken out from a cheap soap opera. Not a fan of that.
2) Again with parallels to American history. And (at least) a second parallel to the Civil War (the first one is in TOS).
3) Wait, how did the Q suddenly lose their powers?
4) And I'm saving the best for last - that horrible chauvinism of Q's, which he didn't demonstrate with the female crew members aboard the Enterprise.
I wish this episode didn't exist, so I'll give it a 0.
A fun Q-episode, and quite some mudslinging from Janeway.
Problem, a serious problem. How the heck do the shockwaves from the supernovas affect the warpfield of the starship before said wave yet have to reach Voyager? So the cause and effect breaks down here.
As said in the main review, even though we cant expect scientific correctness in any episode. We do need things to be believable - and this detail make the episode fail.
Which is too bad, since I do enjoy the interaction and banter of episodes like this one.
This episode absolutely sickens me. It's an abomination. It completely destroys the mysterious nature of the Q by giving them human attributes - quarreling, unresolvable conflicts, male/female relationships, war, and procreation. It's so wrong, I don't even know where to begin! I love the Q episodes, especially the one before this where the one Q committed suicide. ARRRRGGHHH!
Plus, this episode also cheapens the Q because of its disgusting jumping on the bandwagon of civil war mania during the time this was made. Remember, Ken Burns and his Civil War documentaries? This idea had to have come from the bean counters upstairs. If it didn't, there's no forgiving the writers and producers.
I seriously hate this episode.